Antequera
Encyclopedia
Antequera is a city and municipality
in the province of Málaga, part of the Spanish
autonomous community
of Andalusia
. It is known as "the heart of Andalusia" (el corazón de Andalucía) because of its central location among Málaga
, Granada
, Córdoba
, and Seville
. It is noted for two large Bronze Age
dolmen
s.
Antequera lies 47 km north of the city of Málaga
on the A45 road, at the foot of the mountain ranges of El Torcal and Sierra de la Chimenea, 575 m above mean sea level
. It overlooks the fertile valley bounded to the south by the Sierra de los Torcales, and to the north by the river Guadalhorce
. It occupies a commanding position. At 817 km², the municipality is the largest, in terms of area, in the province of Málaga and one of the largest in Spain. The population is 41,197 (2002 census).
The saltwater lagoon Fuente de Piedra, which is one of the few nesting places of the Greater Flamingo
in Europe, and the limestone
rock formation of the Torcal, a nature reserve and popular spot for climbers, are nearby. Across the Guadalhorce is Peña de los Enamorados
, ("The Lovers' Rock"); named after the legend of two young Moorish lovers from rival clans who threw themselves from the rock while being pursued by the girl's father and his men. This romantic legend was adapted by Robert Southey
. In his Laila and Manuel the lovers were a Muslim girl and her father's Christian slave.
On the northern outskirts of the city there are two Bronze Age
burial mounds (barrows
or dolmen
s) the Dólmen de Menga and Dólmen de Viera, dating from the 3rd millennium BC
. They are the largest such structures in Europe. The larger one, Dólmen de Menga, is twenty-five metres in diameter and four metres high, and was built with thirty-two megalith
s, the largest weighing about 180 tonnes. After completion of the chamber (which probably served as a grave for the ruling families) and the path leading into the center, the stone structure was covered with earth and built up into the hill that can be seen today. When the grave
was opened and examined in the 19th century, archaeologists found the skeletons of several hundred people inside. The Dólmen del Romeral, which dates from the early 2nd millennium
(about 1800 BC
), is outside the city. A large number of smaller stones were used in its construction. Los Silillos, a significant Bronze Age prehistoric village was uncovered several miles north of Antequera.
From the 7th century BC, the region was settled by the Iberians
, whose cultural and economic contacts with the Phoenicia
ns and Greeks
are demonstrated by many archaeological discoveries. In the middle of the 1st millennium BC, the Iberians mingled with wandering Celt
s (see Celtiberians
) and with the civilization of Tartessos
of southern Spain.
became part of the Roman Empire
. The people quickly adopted Roman culture and the Latin
language, and the transition to Roman rule was largely peaceful. As in many other places in Andalusia, the current city plan and the name originate from when Spain was part of the Roman Empire; the Latin name of the city was Antikaria. Under the Romans, the city continued to be an important commercial center, especially known for the quality of its olive oil
.
Starting from the 5th century AD, the Romans were increasingly displaced by people crossing the Pyrenees
, including Vandals, Alans
, and Suebi
. In 554 a Roman expedition sent by emperor Justinian retook the area, but they were in turn defeated by the Visigoth
s in 624.
In the year 711 a tribe of Berbers
out of North Africa
(Moors
) invaded Spain and conquered Antikaria around 716, renaming it Medina Antaquira.
The Moorish state was known for its religious tolerance, and lasted until 1212, when a coalition of Christian kings drove them from Central Spain in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
. Over the next few years the dominant Almohad
dynasty was defeated and Moorish Al-Andalus greatly reduced in strength. Medina Antaquira, which at that time had a population of about 2,600, became one of the northern cities of the remaining Nasrid kingdom of Granada and an important border town. To defend against the Catholic
Spanish troops from the northern kingdoms, fortifications were built, and a castle (alcazaba
) was erected overlooking the city.
For about two hundred years, Medina Antaquira was repeatedly attacked by Christian kings during the Reconquista
, and on September 16, 1410 an army led by Ferdinand I of Aragon
conquered the city. This gave Ferdinand, who was crowned King of Aragon in 1412, the title "Ferdinand of Antequera" (Don Fernando de Antequera), and the main street still carries his name: Calle Infante Don Fernando.
After Antequera became part of the Kingdom of Castile
, the Muslims were driven out. The city became a Catholic fortress against the Muslim Nasrid kingdom of Granada, and a base for continuing conquest. After Granada, the last Moorish city, capitulated in 1492, Antequera began to recover from the centuries of fighting, and the population increased from 2,000 to almost 15,000 in twenty years.
Antequera became an important commercial town at the crossroads between Málaga to the south, Granada to the east, Córdoba
to the north and Seville
to the west. Because of its location, its flourishing agriculture, and the work of its craftsmen, all contributing to the cultural growth of the city, Antequera was called the "Heart of Andalusia" by the early 16th century. During this time the townscape also changed. Mosques and houses were torn down, and new churches and houses built in their place. The oldest church in Antequera, the late Gothic
Iglesia San Francisco, was built around the year 1500.
In 1504, the humanist
university of the Real Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor was founded; it became a meeting place for important writers and scholars of the Spanish Renaissance
. A school of poets arose during the 16th century that included Pedro Espinosa, Luis Martín de la Plaza and Cristobalina Fernández de Alarcón. A school of sculpture produced artists who were mainly employed on the many churches built, and who were in demand in Seville, Málaga and Córdoba and the surrounding areas. The newly-built churches included San Sebastián in the city center and the largest and most splendid of the city, Real Colegiata de Santa María, with its richly decorated mannerist
façade.
Still more churches and convents were built into the 18th century (today there are 32 in the city altogether), as were palaces for the members of the aristocracy and the wealthier citizens in the Spanish Baroque
style.
Antequera's prosperity slowly came to a close at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th. Spain had to accept the loss of its American colonies and lost a number of crucial military conflicts in Europe. That led to a deep economic crisis, which in some parts of the country led people to turn to barter
ing. Church, aristocracy and the upper middle class — the great landowners — who had been the clients and sponsors of the creative arts, lost most of their fortunes and could not afford to build more churches or palaces.
Starting from the mid-18th century, Spain underwent a series of reforms, in particular a land reform and the reduction of the power of the Church (the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767) that produced a slow economic recovery. In Antequera, textile production became the main industry. In 1804, yellow fever
caused a setback, as well as the Napoleonic wars
which broke out shortly after. In the early 20th century, Antequera's textile industry suffered another serious crisis.
It was only in the 1960s, when the nearby Costa del Sol
developed into an international tourist
hotspot, that Antequera experienced another economic upswing. Today the city is an important tourist and cultural center, not only on a regional scale.
The city's museums house about 80% of all the art treasures in the province of Málaga, which makes it one of the cultural centers of Andalusia.
In the eastern suburbs there is one of the largest burial mounds in Spain, dating from the Bronze Age
, and with subterranean chambers excavated to a depth of c. 20 m.
s, grain
, and wool
), as well as furniture
manufacturing. Today, tourism
is the main industry, and there are an increasing number of international visitors.
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
in the province of Málaga, part of the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
autonomous community
Autonomous communities of Spain
An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...
of Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
. It is known as "the heart of Andalusia" (el corazón de Andalucía) because of its central location among Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
, Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...
, Córdoba
Córdoba, Spain
-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
, and Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
. It is noted for two large Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
dolmen
Dolmen
A dolmen—also known as a portal tomb, portal grave, dolmain , cromlech , anta , Hünengrab/Hünenbett , Adamra , Ispun , Hunebed , dös , goindol or quoit—is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of...
s.
Geography
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
on the A45 road, at the foot of the mountain ranges of El Torcal and Sierra de la Chimenea, 575 m above mean sea level
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
. It overlooks the fertile valley bounded to the south by the Sierra de los Torcales, and to the north by the river Guadalhorce
Guadalhorce
The Guadalhorce River is the principal river of the Province of Málaga, southern Spain....
. It occupies a commanding position. At 817 km², the municipality is the largest, in terms of area, in the province of Málaga and one of the largest in Spain. The population is 41,197 (2002 census).
The saltwater lagoon Fuente de Piedra, which is one of the few nesting places of the Greater Flamingo
Greater Flamingo
The Greater Flamingo is the most widespread species of the flamingo family. It is found in parts of Africa, southern Asia , and southern Europe...
in Europe, and the limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
rock formation of the Torcal, a nature reserve and popular spot for climbers, are nearby. Across the Guadalhorce is Peña de los Enamorados
Peña de los Enamorados
Peña de los Enamorados is a mountain near the city of Antequera, Málaga Province, Andalusia, Spain. It reaches a height of 880 metres above sea level.-Name:The mountain was named after a legend from the local oral tradition...
, ("The Lovers' Rock"); named after the legend of two young Moorish lovers from rival clans who threw themselves from the rock while being pursued by the girl's father and his men. This romantic legend was adapted by Robert Southey
Robert Southey
Robert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843...
. In his Laila and Manuel the lovers were a Muslim girl and her father's Christian slave.
Bronze Age and early history
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
burial mounds (barrows
Tumulus
A tumulus is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, Hügelgrab or kurgans, and can be found throughout much of the world. A tumulus composed largely or entirely of stones is usually referred to as a cairn...
or dolmen
Dolmen
A dolmen—also known as a portal tomb, portal grave, dolmain , cromlech , anta , Hünengrab/Hünenbett , Adamra , Ispun , Hunebed , dös , goindol or quoit—is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of...
s) the Dólmen de Menga and Dólmen de Viera, dating from the 3rd millennium BC
3rd millennium BC
The 3rd millennium BC spans the Early to Middle Bronze Age.It represents a period of time in which imperialism, or the desire to conquer, grew to prominence, in the city states of the Middle East, but also throughout Eurasia, with Indo-European expansion to Anatolia, Europe and Central Asia. The...
. They are the largest such structures in Europe. The larger one, Dólmen de Menga, is twenty-five metres in diameter and four metres high, and was built with thirty-two megalith
Megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic describes structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement.The word 'megalith' comes from the Ancient...
s, the largest weighing about 180 tonnes. After completion of the chamber (which probably served as a grave for the ruling families) and the path leading into the center, the stone structure was covered with earth and built up into the hill that can be seen today. When the grave
Grave (burial)
A grave is a location where a dead body is buried. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as graveyards or cemeteries....
was opened and examined in the 19th century, archaeologists found the skeletons of several hundred people inside. The Dólmen del Romeral, which dates from the early 2nd millennium
2nd millennium BC
The 2nd millennium BC marks the transition from the Middle to the Late Bronze Age.Its first half is dominated by the Middle Kingdom of Egypt and Babylonia. The alphabet develops. Indo-Iranian migration onto the Iranian plateau and onto the Indian subcontinent propagates the use of the chariot...
(about 1800 BC
19th century BC
-Events:* Hittite empire in Hattusa, Anatolia.* 1900 BC: Proto-Greek invasions of Greece.* c. 1900 BC: Minoan Old Palace period starts in Crete.* c. 1900 BC: Fall of last Sumerian dynasty....
), is outside the city. A large number of smaller stones were used in its construction. Los Silillos, a significant Bronze Age prehistoric village was uncovered several miles north of Antequera.
From the 7th century BC, the region was settled by the Iberians
Iberians
The Iberians were a set of peoples that Greek and Roman sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC...
, whose cultural and economic contacts with the Phoenicia
Phoenicia
Phoenicia , was an ancient civilization in Canaan which covered most of the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent. Several major Phoenician cities were built on the coastline of the Mediterranean. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550...
ns and Greeks
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
are demonstrated by many archaeological discoveries. In the middle of the 1st millennium BC, the Iberians mingled with wandering Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
s (see Celtiberians
Celtiberians
The Celtiberians were Celtic-speaking people of the Iberian Peninsula in the final centuries BC. The group used the Celtic Celtiberian language.Archaeologically, the Celtiberians participated in the Hallstatt culture in what is now north-central Spain...
) and with the civilization of Tartessos
Tartessos
Tartessos or Tartessus was a harbor city and surrounding culture on the south coast of the Iberian peninsula , at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River. It appears in sources from Greece and the Near East starting in the middle of the first millennium BC, for example Herodotus, who describes it as...
of southern Spain.
Roman era and later invasions
In the last quarter of the 1st millennium BCE, the Iberian peninsulaIberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
became part of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. The people quickly adopted Roman culture and the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
language, and the transition to Roman rule was largely peaceful. As in many other places in Andalusia, the current city plan and the name originate from when Spain was part of the Roman Empire; the Latin name of the city was Antikaria. Under the Romans, the city continued to be an important commercial center, especially known for the quality of its olive oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
.
Starting from the 5th century AD, the Romans were increasingly displaced by people crossing the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
, including Vandals, Alans
Alans
The Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
, and Suebi
Suebi
The Suebi or Suevi were a group of Germanic peoples who were first mentioned by Julius Caesar in connection with Ariovistus' campaign, c...
. In 554 a Roman expedition sent by emperor Justinian retook the area, but they were in turn defeated by the Visigoth
Visigoth
The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...
s in 624.
Al-Andalus
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
out of North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
(Moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
) invaded Spain and conquered Antikaria around 716, renaming it Medina Antaquira.
The Moorish state was known for its religious tolerance, and lasted until 1212, when a coalition of Christian kings drove them from Central Spain in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa
The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, known in Arab history as the Battle of Al-Uqab , took place on 16 July 1212 and was an important turning point in the Reconquista and in the medieval history of Spain...
. Over the next few years the dominant Almohad
Almohad
The Almohad Dynasty , was a Moroccan Berber-Muslim dynasty founded in the 12th century that established a Berber state in Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains in roughly 1120.The movement was started by Ibn Tumart in the Masmuda tribe, followed by Abd al-Mu'min al-Gumi between 1130 and his...
dynasty was defeated and Moorish Al-Andalus greatly reduced in strength. Medina Antaquira, which at that time had a population of about 2,600, became one of the northern cities of the remaining Nasrid kingdom of Granada and an important border town. To defend against the Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
Spanish troops from the northern kingdoms, fortifications were built, and a castle (alcazaba
Alcazaba
An alcazaba , alcáçova or alcassaba is a Moorish fortification in Spain and Portugal. The word derives from the Arabic word القصبة , a walled-fortification in a city....
) was erected overlooking the city.
For about two hundred years, Medina Antaquira was repeatedly attacked by Christian kings during the Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
, and on September 16, 1410 an army led by Ferdinand I of Aragon
Ferdinand I of Aragon
Ferdinand I called of Antequera and also the Just or the Honest) was king of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia and Corsica and king of Sicily, duke of Athens and Neopatria, and count of Barcelona, Roussillon and Cerdanya...
conquered the city. This gave Ferdinand, who was crowned King of Aragon in 1412, the title "Ferdinand of Antequera" (Don Fernando de Antequera), and the main street still carries his name: Calle Infante Don Fernando.
Spain
Crown of Castile
The Crown of Castile was a medieval and modern state in the Iberian Peninsula that formed in 1230 as a result of the third and definitive union of the crowns and parliaments of the kingdoms of Castile and León upon the accession of the then King Ferdinand III of Castile to the vacant Leonese throne...
, the Muslims were driven out. The city became a Catholic fortress against the Muslim Nasrid kingdom of Granada, and a base for continuing conquest. After Granada, the last Moorish city, capitulated in 1492, Antequera began to recover from the centuries of fighting, and the population increased from 2,000 to almost 15,000 in twenty years.
Antequera became an important commercial town at the crossroads between Málaga to the south, Granada to the east, Córdoba
Córdoba, Spain
-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...
to the north and Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
to the west. Because of its location, its flourishing agriculture, and the work of its craftsmen, all contributing to the cultural growth of the city, Antequera was called the "Heart of Andalusia" by the early 16th century. During this time the townscape also changed. Mosques and houses were torn down, and new churches and houses built in their place. The oldest church in Antequera, the late Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
Iglesia San Francisco, was built around the year 1500.
In 1504, the humanist
Renaissance humanism
Renaissance humanism was an activity of cultural and educational reform engaged by scholars, writers, and civic leaders who are today known as Renaissance humanists. It developed during the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, and was a response to the challenge of Mediæval...
university of the Real Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor was founded; it became a meeting place for important writers and scholars of the Spanish Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
. A school of poets arose during the 16th century that included Pedro Espinosa, Luis Martín de la Plaza and Cristobalina Fernández de Alarcón. A school of sculpture produced artists who were mainly employed on the many churches built, and who were in demand in Seville, Málaga and Córdoba and the surrounding areas. The newly-built churches included San Sebastián in the city center and the largest and most splendid of the city, Real Colegiata de Santa María, with its richly decorated mannerist
Mannerism
Mannerism is a period of European art that emerged from the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520. It lasted until about 1580 in Italy, when a more Baroque style began to replace it, but Northern Mannerism continued into the early 17th century throughout much of Europe...
façade.
Still more churches and convents were built into the 18th century (today there are 32 in the city altogether), as were palaces for the members of the aristocracy and the wealthier citizens in the Spanish Baroque
Spanish Baroque
Spanish Baroque is a strand of Baroque architecture that evolved in Spain and its provinces and former colonies, notably Spanish America and Belgium....
style.
Antequera's prosperity slowly came to a close at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th. Spain had to accept the loss of its American colonies and lost a number of crucial military conflicts in Europe. That led to a deep economic crisis, which in some parts of the country led people to turn to barter
Barter
Barter is a method of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. It is usually bilateral, but may be multilateral, and usually exists parallel to monetary systems in most developed countries, though to a...
ing. Church, aristocracy and the upper middle class — the great landowners — who had been the clients and sponsors of the creative arts, lost most of their fortunes and could not afford to build more churches or palaces.
Starting from the mid-18th century, Spain underwent a series of reforms, in particular a land reform and the reduction of the power of the Church (the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767) that produced a slow economic recovery. In Antequera, textile production became the main industry. In 1804, yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
caused a setback, as well as the Napoleonic wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
which broke out shortly after. In the early 20th century, Antequera's textile industry suffered another serious crisis.
It was only in the 1960s, when the nearby Costa del Sol
Costa del Sol
The Costa del Sol is a region in the south of Spain, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, comprising the coastal towns and communities along the Mediterranean coastline of the Málaga province. The Costa del Sol is situated between two lesser known costas: Costa de la Luz and Costa Tropical...
developed into an international tourist
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
hotspot, that Antequera experienced another economic upswing. Today the city is an important tourist and cultural center, not only on a regional scale.
Religious architecture
- Church Real Colegiata de Santa María la Mayor (1514–1550), a national monument built in a transition style between the late GothicGothic architectureGothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
and the RenaissasanceRenaissance architectureRenaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance...
ones. For the façade construction were used stones from the abandoned Roman town of Singilia Barba, located north of Antequera. - Church Real Colegiata de San Sebastián, built from 1548. Originally in Renaissance style, it has a BaroqueBaroque architectureBaroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
bell tower and a Neoclassicist interior. - Convent of Madre de Dios de Monteagudo (1747–1761). It has a notable Baroque bell tower.
- Convento de la Encarnación (1580), in Mannerist-MudéjarMudéjarMudéjar is the name given to individual Moors or Muslims of Al-Andalus who remained in Iberia after the Christian Reconquista but were not converted to Christianity...
style. - Convent of Belén (early 16th century)
- Church of San Pedro (16th century), with traces of a previous Gothic edifice
- Royal Monastery of San Zoilo, founded in 1500. In Gothic style, it has been declared national monument.
- Church of St. John the Baptist (finished in 1584). It has an austere façade, with a notable Baroque interior.
- Church of Santiago (1522)
- Church of the Carmen (1583–1633), in Mannerist-Baroque style. It has a tre retabloRetabloA Retablo or lamina is a Latin American devotional painting, especially a small popular or folk art one using iconography derived from traditional Catholic church art....
s in the main chapel, dating to the 18th century. - Chapel of the Virgen del Socorro, an isolated small church in the port area. It was built in 1715
Other buildings
- AlcazabaAlcazaba of AntequeraThe Alcazaba of Antequera is a fortess in Antequera, Spain. It was erected in the 14th century to counter the Christian advance from the north, over Roman ruins.The fortress is rectangular in shape, with two towers...
- the 18th century Palace of Nájera, now home to the Municipal Museum,.
- The bullring, dating from 1848, was rebuilt beginning in 1984, in a style that reflects the city's diverse architectural influences
- Arco de los Gigantes ("Giants' Arch"), erected in 1595 in honour of King Philip II of SpainPhilip II of SpainPhilip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
, and partly constructed of inscribed Roman masonry. - The excavated Roman baths can be seen in the southeast part of the city.
- Roman villa of Estación: (1st century BC-4th century AD)
The city's museums house about 80% of all the art treasures in the province of Málaga, which makes it one of the cultural centers of Andalusia.
In the eastern suburbs there is one of the largest burial mounds in Spain, dating from the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
, and with subterranean chambers excavated to a depth of c. 20 m.
Economy
Historically, the region's economy was based on the production and processing of agricultural products (oliveOlive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
s, grain
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
, and wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
), as well as furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
manufacturing. Today, tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
is the main industry, and there are an increasing number of international visitors.